Lovely Baby
by Aislin30a
Summary: There's a new quarter-Vulcan baby on the Enterprise. Spock is on shift and Uhura needs a nap, so Jim and Bones get to babysit! Bones is all smitten and starry-eyed and Jim has a revelation.


Rating: T for language and Jim's naughty thoughts.

Pairing: Kirk/McCoy

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek or anything affiliated with it. I'm doing this for fun, not profit.

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Lovely Baby

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Jim has stunningly blue eyes. The kind of eyes that probably first inspired corny similes involving twin pools and endless depths. Leonard does sometimes, despite how stupid it sounds, finds himself drowning in them. Though blue isn't the only color he's been loosing himself in lately. Jim will never hear it from him, because Leonard knows exactly where the lines are drawn on his freak-out-o-meter, but there are two people in all the universe whose eyes Leonard finds even more captivating than Jim's.

One is a feisty little girl back in Georgia who can melt Leonard's heart with a smile, and does so every single time he sees those eyes -more green than hazel- looking back at him from a holo screen. Jim, having witnessed a fair few of those holo vids first hand, probably wouldn't be at all surprised to hear that.

Leonard knows he'll never have to worry about him getting weird where Joanna is concerned. Jim's relationship with Leonard's daughter has progressed almost effortlessly simply because, when they were originally made aware of each other, they both very quickly categorized the other as a natural extension of Leonard himself. Which was a really unnerving conversation to have witnessed when one party was his five-year-old daughter and the other was some crazy kid he'd met on a shuttle who'd managed to integrate himself into Leonard's life so completely, with a speed and finality that gave him whiplash, that it hadn't even occurred to him to wonder how Jim got into his dorm or why he had the code to Leonard's door. Because, of course, he _would_.

Regardless of the relationship between Jim and himself, Leonard knows that Jim will always consider himself a part of Joanna's life; her Uncle Jim in one form or another.

So it's really hearing about the second person that would likely cause Jim to get a little twitchy. That Leonard gets all starry eyed over his _own_ daughter is one thing. That he gets that way over _someone else's_ is another thing entirely.

"How anyone could look at you and not fall head over heals is beyond me." Leonard says to the infant cradled in the crook of his arm. She stares back at him in the sort of solemn way only babies can. "Especially since you've got your Mama's eyes."

Leonard looks toward Jim's common room, leaning out as far as he can without disturbing the little girl in his arms so he can see through the door from the bed. He can just see the edge of Jim's chair and the part of his arm resting on the desk. He's facing his vid screen, away from the bedroom, and seems to be fairly involved in his conversation with Admiral Pike. Leonard leans back into the pillows piled behind him feeling reasonably assured that he'll have plenty of time to fawn over the child without Jim walking in.

He pitches his voice low anyway as he gently rubs one delicately pointed ear between his thumb and forefinger.

"An just between you and me, you've got the most precious ears. Much cuter than your Daddy's." She huffs out a little baby sigh and Leonard taps her button nose with his finger. "An I'm not just sayin' that cause he drives me bat-shit insane either. You're getting my honest and objective opinion here."

Saavik blinks up at him, pupils large and unfocused. She really does have Nyota's eyes though Leonard isn't really sure how he can tell. It might be something to do with the shape, how they angle just slightly up on the sides. Or maybe it's the way she opens them up so wide when she looks at him. It's something he's never seen Spock do even when he's caught completely by surprise, which doesn't happen often enough in Leonard's opinion.

"I wonder what your eyebrows will look like," He says running a thumb over the fine hairs over Saavik's eyes. They haven't really grown in enough yet to tell.

"_Aaah_." Saavik wrinkles her brow at the touch.

"Aaah." Leonard coos back, not caring how ridiculous it sounds. Saavik snuffles, bringing her little fists up to rub over her face. One of her hands brushes against his T-shirt and latches on, tugging at the material. She turns her head, mouth open, her little pink tongue pressed up against her bottom lip.

"Sorry darlin', that shops closed and ain't likely to ever be open." Leonard chuckles, reaching for the bottle he'd prepared earlier. He places the nub against her tongue and she starts suckling immediately. "You're Mama needs to sleep, so it's formula for you."

He watches her as she bats at the bottle with her arms, trying to get a grip on it but she's too young at two months to really have much coordination. One hand gets there eventually while the other settles back to pulling at his shirt. Leonard remembers Joanna at this age. Small and looking so fragile; even after eight weeks of midnight feedings and diaper changes he'd still been afraid he'd brake her. Saavik doesn't look as delicate as he remembers Joanna being. Maybe because he'd worked his way past those jitters years ago, maybe because she isn't his. Maybe it's something to do with being a quarter Vulcan.

"I sent Jo that picture," Leonard says. Saavik's eyes glance up at the sound of his voice. "That one of you and your Mama and Daddy just after you were born."

"_Uhnnn_."

"She thought you looked creepy. Probably should have waited to take that picture until your head had settled back into its right shape." Leonard chuckles. "I tried telling her about skull plates, fontanels and birth canals an she just said I was being gross."

"_Uhnnn_." Her little brow wrinkles as she drinks the last of her formula.

"Up you get," He sets the bottle down on the side table and lifts her up to his shoulder. She snuffles at him as he rubs her back, patting lightly every so often. "You're a quiet one aren't you?"

It's something he's said many times before and probably will again. Leonard has only ever heard her cry twice, once just after she was born and once during a fire drill with the klaxons at red alert. He's still trying to decide if it's just her nature or if it's a Vulcan influence.

Saavik makes the sort of hitching sigh common to all babies which signals that spitting-up has commenced. It's only then, feeling a bit of warm wetness seep through his shirt, that Leonard realizes he forgot to drape a hand towel over his shoulder. He sighs as he folds his legs up, laying Saavik against the crook created where his caves overlap, her head on his hand.

"So I'm a bit rusty," he says, wiping regurgitated formula off her dark skin with the hem of his T-shirt. "Just be grateful it's me doin' this an not Jim. He'd be damn useless."

"_Uhk._"

"That's right, he would've forgot to burp you an everything." Leonard leans forward, shifting until Saavik is laying on his forearms, her head held in the cradle of his hands. He looks down at her, less than a foot away from her face. She smiles up at him.

"There, see? Not even half a year old and you're all set to give your Daddy a heart attack." And that statement has nothing to do with Humans and Vulcans and everything to do with the adorable, ibeautiful/i little baby in his arms.

"_Aahhhh!_" Saavik coos, kicking her feet.

"Is that so?" Leonard says, opening his eyes up wide as if he's surprised. She giggles back at him. "An what did you do after that?"

"_Uahhh!_"

"Really? Well, iI'll be/i." He says, very serious. "An then what happened?"

"_Maaaah!_"

"Now that's a fib if I ever heard one," Leonard shakes his head, grinning. "You can't fool me, baby girl!"

"_Aahhh!_" She coos, waving her little fists.

"Aahhh!" He coos back.

"Oh my God." Jim says from the doorway.

Leonard's face goes carefully blank before he looks up to meet Jim's eyes. He's leaning against the wall as though it's the only thing holding him up, staring at Leonard and Saavik with eyes open wide. Leonard can just imagine what he looks like, what Jim must be thinking, him sitting here with spit-up on his shirt and cooing like a moron. He can feel the heat rising up his neck.

"Jim, before you fre-"

"I want one."

"I- … _what?_"

"A baby. I want one." Jim says, dead serious. "God, Bones, you have no idea what you look like right now."

"I'm pretty sure I do, Jim." Leonard says, shifting under Jim's intense gaze.

"No, you _really_ don't. You're so fucking hot." He pushes off the wall, taking long strides to the bed until he's reached it, crawling onto it. Then Jim's kneeling in front of him, threading his fingers through Leonard's hair, pulling their faces close. Jim's breath comes in warm puffs of air against Leonard's mouth. "I want you _so bad_ right now. Want to fuck you hard into the mattress."

"Jim," Leonard says, mouth dry. "The baby's still here."

"_Uhnnn_."

In the background the chime for Jim's door rings loud and clear.

"_Not_ for long."

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End!


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